NCDD’s “Confab Call” Series

Our popular “Confab calls” are opportunities for members of the NCDD community to connect with each other, hear about exciting projects in our field, and explore our field’s most pressing challenges. Our confabs feature some of our community’s most exciting leaders, projects and topics.

Use the links below to read recaps and access some materials from past Confab Calls.

NCDD Members can also access the archived audio and video recordings of these calls at the Confab Call Archives Page (password required – email joy@ncdd.org if you have forgotten your member password!).

Archives for previous Confab Calls:

June 6, 2019 – we co-hosted this event with the Bridge Alliance, which discussed the tool Slack and how it can be used for D&D Movement Building – www.ncdd.org/29903

March 13, 2019 – we co-hosted this event with the National Conversation Project, which featured Net Impact and the National Issues Forums Institute talking about their collaboration on a new issue guide on the National Debt – www.ncdd.org/29282

February 2019 – we partnered with NCDD Member Org The National Civic League to learn about the All-America City Awards, hear from past awardees, and how to win this prestigious award – www.ncdd.org/29119

January 2019 – West Virginia State Senator John Unger discussed his community engagement process during his recent campaign and how that ultimately lead to his re-election – www.ncdd.org/28967

June 2018 – NCDD Member David and Erin Leaverton of Undivided Nation spoke about their ongoing US road trip and the experiences they have had meeting people previously unfamiliar to them – www.ncdd.org/27028

April 2018 – NCDD Member Linda Ellinor and Paul Cienfuegos of Community Rights US talked about the community rights movement and its impact on dialogue and deliberation efforts at a local level – www.ncdd.org/26332

December 2017 – Michelle Vilchez and Malissa Netane-Jones from the Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center spoke about the Center’s experience working with communities and law enforcement – www.ncdd.org/25097

September 20, 2017 – Chris Beem from the McCourtney Institute and Robin Teater from Healthy Democracy talked about the Nevins Democracy Leaders Program and the opportunity to host a fellow for FREE! – www.ncdd.org/24532

May 4, 2017 – Rich Bartlett and MJ Kaplan of Loomio spoke with us about their experiences with decision-making in a non-hierarchical organization – www.ncdd.org/23682

March 15, 2017 – Engagement practitioners & journalists came together to discuss how we can partner to help bring people together across differences. This call was co-hosted by NCDD and Journalism That Matters – www.ncdd.org/23316

February 8, 2017 – We talked with Patrice O’Neill from Not In Our Town about their responses to hate and opportunities for our network to connect with communities addressing hate and intolerance – www.ncdd.org/23072

November 29, 2016 – We held a special post-election Confab to discuss what our network is doing to address this post election moment. www.ncdd.org/22337

September 21, 2016 – We discussed the Nevins Democracy Leaders Program at the McCourtney Institute for Democracy at Penn State with John Gastil and Chris Beem, and opportunities for member organizations to host a fellow.www.ncdd.org/21833

August 25, 2016 – John Gastil and Luke Hohmann discussed their concept for building a “Democracy Machine.”www.ncdd.org/21513

April 20th, 2016 – NCDD’s staff provided a tour of the website, and talked about what NCDD offers its members in this intro to NCDD’s website. www.ncdd.org/20444

March 23, 2016 -We featured the Participatory Budgeting Project with guests David Beasley from PBP and Allison Rizzolo from Public Agenda– www.ncdd.org/20196

October 28th, 2015 – Dr. John Gastil discussed the amazing opportunity for organizations in the D&D field to host a bright Penn State fellow through the Nevins Democracy Leaders Program – www.ncdd.org/19269

July 29, 2014 – NCDD members Lisa Heft, Adrian Segar, Tim Merry and Susanna Haas Lyons joined us for a confab focused on the challenges and strategies for planning and managing effective closings at participatory events – www.ncdd.org/15697

June 12, 2014 – NCDD member Peter Levine talked about his new book We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For – www.ncdd.org/15318.

April 9, 2014 – Matt Leighninger and Mike Smith on Text Talk Act, a project of Creating Community Solutions that’s been experimenting with how the fun and convenience of text messaging can be leveraged to scale up face-to-face dialogue – www.ncdd.org/14741